January 03, 2014

WHO: MERS update, January 3

On 31 December 2013, WHO has been informed of an additional laboratory-confirmed case of Middle East Respiratory Syndrome coronavirus (MERS-CoV) in United Arab Emirates.

The case is a 33 year-old male healthcare worker in Dubai who was in contact with the confirmed MERS-CoV case reported to WHO on 20 December. He developed symptoms on 27 December, and was hospitalized on 28 December with bilateral pneumonia, acute renal failure and thrombocytopenia. The patient has underlying history of bronchial asthma and chronic kidney disease. The case was laboratory confirmed for MERS-CoV on 29 December 2013. The patient is in critical but stable condition.

Globally, from September 2012 to date, WHO has been informed of a total of 177 laboratory-confirmed cases of infection with MERS-CoV, including 74 deaths.

Based on the current situation and available information, WHO encourages all Member States to continue their surveillance for severe acute respiratory infections (SARI) and to carefully review any unusual patterns.

This is a new case to me, and Andrew Rambaut doesn't have it on his encyclopedic MERS table yet. No doubt he soon will.

Comments

On 31 December 2013, WHO has been informed of an additional laboratory-confirmed case of Middle East Respiratory Syndrome coronavirus (MERS-CoV) in United Arab Emirates.

The case is a 33 year-old male healthcare worker in Dubai who was in contact with the confirmed MERS-CoV case reported to WHO on 20 December. He developed symptoms on 27 December, and was hospitalized on 28 December with bilateral pneumonia, acute renal failure and thrombocytopenia. The patient has underlying history of bronchial asthma and chronic kidney disease. The case was laboratory confirmed for MERS-CoV on 29 December 2013. The patient is in critical but stable condition.

Globally, from September 2012 to date, WHO has been informed of a total of 177 laboratory-confirmed cases of infection with MERS-CoV, including 74 deaths.

Based on the current situation and available information, WHO encourages all Member States to continue their surveillance for severe acute respiratory infections (SARI) and to carefully review any unusual patterns.

This is a new case to me, and Andrew Rambaut doesn't have it on his encyclopedic MERS table yet. No doubt he soon will.